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40% of BlackBerry 10 apps are repackaged Android APKs

You’ve heard it that the new BlackBerry platform was launched with 70,000 apps, and you may be wondering how the Canadian company managed to get so many developers on board even before a single device running BlackBerry 10 was released.

The answer is simple – they provided great porting tools to allow Android developers to port their existing apps to the new platform. In fact, it is said that 40% of all BlackBerry 10 apps are nothing more but repackaged Android APKs. That, however, doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, per se. Quite the contrary, we applaud RIM BlackBerry for taking this wise route, relying on the other platform’s success to its benefit, while at the same time making it easier for developers to extend their reach (to another platform).

As far as I’ve understood, porting an Android app to BlackBerry 10 is as easy as implementing changes to the “back” and “menu” functions and making the app work with gestures. Sounds pretty cool…